Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) campaign office yesterday listed three issues with an open primary system proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hou You-yi’s (侯友宜) office, saying it respects the suggestion but cannot accept it.
The KMT’s and the TPP’s representatives on Saturday held the first formal meeting in Taipei to form a “blue-white alliance” for next year’s presidential election, and Hou’s campaign office suggested they hold an open primary for deciding the strongest presidential candidate among the two parties, while Ko’s campaign office suggested that it should be decided based on the average result of opinion polls.
An open primary election would have three issues, namely under-representation, listing issues and limited preparation time, Ko’s office said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
As the KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) stated that the minimum threshold for the primary to be valid should be at least 50 percent of the alliance’s voter base, then at least 5.5 million votes would be needed, it said.
Hou’s campaign office proposed to set up 73 voting stations for the primary, which means on average there should be about 80,000 votes cast at each station on a single day, it said, adding that otherwise public opinion would be misrepresented.
As for the listing issues, the office said the fairness of physical voting relies on avoidance of multiple voting and personation, but a primary held by opposition parties cannot have access to the government’s household registration system, and if voters are only required to sign a form saying they approve of opposition parties working together to remove the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from power, the votes might still cause misrepresentation.
It is also difficult for the two parties to create a primary election list with accreditation and sufficient security in such a short time, it added.
According to the KMT’s suggested timetable, the primary election should be completed by Nov. 10, which is 26 days away, it said, adding that the DPP adopted the same open primary system in 1995, and it took over six months to prepare to collect about 300,000 votes.
When the New Party held a primary election in 1998, it resulted in the controversy of members being taken to voting stations by chartered buses, it added.
When the KMT was preparing for the presidential election in 2019, Broadcasting Corp of China president Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) also proposed the primary system to then-KMT chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), but it was not accepted.
The primary system has proven to be a failure by the two parties, so the KMT’s proposal to use the method only shows its intention to utilize the party’s voter mobilization capacity, but lacks sincerity to integrate with the TPP, Ko’s office said.
The open primary election proposed by the KMT is actually a closed primary, as voters need to sign a form to cast a vote, and the location where the voting stations are set up might also affect people’s willingness to vote, Ko’s office said.
The method of comparing polling results — conducted by five agencies, half via landline interviews and half via cellphone — proposed by Ko’s campaign office could reflects the real public opinion better, it said.
Earlier yesterday, Hou said the open primary election has been used in many democratic countries for many years, including the US, France and South Korea.
“I believe it is a scientific and democratic method to voice the public opinion,” he said.
The KMT would show its greatest tolerance, understanding and friendliness, in hope to form the “blue-white alliance,” he added.
Additional reporting by Lai Hsiao-tung
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